11/28/2024
Happy Thanksgiving!
As you sit down after a bountiful meal and before you slip off into a turkey-induced food coma, take a minute to be thankful for the safety of our food supply.
The New World Screwworm is a devastating parasite of livestock and can even infect humans. It can cause tissue damage that is extensive enough to cause death.
According to USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), NWS was eradicated from the US in 1966 by introducing sterile male flies, and this same technique has been used by USDA in collaboration with Panama to create a buffer zone and keep the flies south of it.
This past week, Mexico announced a single case of NWS found in Chiapas, its southernmost state. You may not know it but according to Drovers, over the last 25 years, the US has imported an average of 1.15 million feeder cattle from Mexico. Imports from Mexico have been temporarily suspended, probably for a few weeks (bad news or good news, depending whether you're buying or selling, I guess).
On the positive side, even though the NWS boundary was breached, the system worked. This cow was discovered during routine inspection at a checkpoint close to the border with Guatemala. That is the goal of surveillance.
We are certainly grateful to all of you who work to produce our food and ensure its safety. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
U.S. and Mexican officials are working together on pre-export inspection protocols before resuming live cattle imports into the U.S. The use of sterile flies is also a priority to help control the spread of NWS in Mexico.
